HAIR.

i have new hair. please note the difference between this:


and this:

it's better. trust me.

listen, all y'all, it's a sabotage

my summer so far. from top left to right and down:

1. beastie boys
2. stick shifting (i love my kia rio!)
3. pabst blue ribbon (just as cheap as natty light and infinitely better in taste)
4. making shit in illustrator (mostly for my internship)
5. weddings (internship!)
6. c-bus skyline
7. my roommate's shiba inu
8. autocad
9. schwinn le tour III (oh yeah, manufactured in 1978)
10. learning to cook vegan

hope your summers are equally groovy.

xoxo
crast

best flyer ever.

this is the best ad i have ever seen. clip art, crazy typefaces, overwhelming colors, LOVE IT.

72 hours: the playlist

by the end of critique tomorrow (11am-4pm) i will have been awake roughly 3 days in a row, with a 2 hour nap after day one. in honor of this fabulous series of all-nighters, i have prepared the best. playlist. ever. here's to you, floor plans and section views!

1. Phantom Planet - After Hours
2. Vampire Weekend - I Stand Corrected
3. Okkervil River - Westfall
4. Phoenix - Lost and Found
5. Ben Kweller - Commerce, TX
6. Ben Folds - Gone
7. Ween - Your Party
8. Van Morrison - Wild Night
9. Wilco - I'm the Man Who Loves You
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
11. Stars - Take Me to the Riot
12. Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining
13. Ted Leo + the Pharmacists - Bleeding Powers
14. Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
15. Beastie Boys - She's Crafty
16. the Rolling Stones - 19th Nervous Breakdown
17. Of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider
18. Citizen Cope - Sideways
19. Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
20. Andrew Bird - Measuring Cups

lack of sleep = extreme silliness. xoxo.

can't always get what you want

working on a digital portfolio to send out with job applications and things like that. i wish it didn't look so blahh. i don't know what to do. i really should be working on my model.

like a hitman, oh like a dancer

page layouts for a presentation about my model and semitransparent/opaque building materials and skins.

i bought pedals for my clipless shoes today. SPD FTW. now i should learn to ride without falling off. when will my helmet come in the mail??

model

it is 3:27 am and i am still working on this godforsaken model. i have taken it apart and reglued it together at least four times. i have cut pieces out, remade pieces, covered it with tracing paper and ripped it all off, only to cover it again. i built a fake curving cliff landscape out of foamcore for it to protrude out of. i'm still not done, but i will finish it tomorrow. then, next week, i get to build it all over again, only better.

Chinatowns around the world

check out this cool interactive map of the Chinatowns around the world on the Wallpaper* website. it's awesome!

i have been obsessed with making a new resume in InDesign. i even have a references page! next up: making a digital portfolio. i'll need some time on my hands for that one.

I <3 Georgia

I haven't updated in quite a bit. I will get good pictures (and stories) for an NYC post soon. I can't say that the quarter has been "crazy busy," but I can say that at times so far it has been both crazy and busy. I love my studio class and I will put up some diagrams.

BUT down to business. I love Georgia. It looks great on the screen and it's one of the only serif fonts that I can stand to look at. Sometimes people (ahem) make fun of me for overusage, but I have a limited knowledge of typography, so I say stick to what works!

Inspiration Bit posted a blog with a list of beautiful websites using Georgia as the house typeface. IB always has cool articles and a lovely page layout, so check it out here:

http://www.inspirationbit.com/georgia-on-my-mind/

I have to finish room sketches for Bliss and do some other fun stuff now. Check out some of the posts I wrote for the blog - they say "posted by Interns"! Does anyone know what I can do with the canned tiny shrimp my dad bought me? Recipes? Should I cook it?

NYC!

i'm back from my design trip to NYC april 2-6. what an awesome time! i seriously did not want to go home on sunday, even after four days of driving, running, visiting, subway riding, drinking, eating, dancing, and schmoozing. note that "sleeping" is not included in that list, because we all did very little of it.


we drove to New Jersey on thursday and took the PATH train into the city. our hostel was... quaint, is probably a good way to describe it. 8 people to a room, two single showers per floor. it was nice enough, though, and we ended up spending very little time there anyway.

we visited NBBJ Architecture and Calori Vanden-Eynden firms on Friday. Chris and Dave from CV were absolutely wonderful hosts and made us all feel very welcome at their studio. in addition to learning a LOT about their company and design in general, we also had a beer. so fun!

Saturday was museum day. my friends and i went to the Met, MoMA, The Guggenheim (well, we stood in the lobby. it was really expensive) and Hewlett Cooper. and we went to Chinatown for bargain hunting and Little Italy for food. Kelly and i checked out the Jonathan Adler store only a few blocks from the Met. it was amazing! i loved their customizable wallpaper and their manifesto on the front wall which in one part says "we believe colors can't clash" HELL YES!

our last day in the city we had an amazing brunch at a Spanish restaurant, a walk through Central Park, design museum, and finally a longggg drive home. i'm sure we did about a hundred more things than that, but it would take a long time to write them all down. in short, i love NYC and had a super amazing time there!

pictures soon... i have homework to do!

on the shamrocks.

so it's finals week and things are winding down with a bam.

i'm working on my FCD and, of course, finishing my bumble bee. i have been extremely unmotivated and am finding it hard to concentrate on the things i need to do. the problem? i think i really want a shamrock shake! i have no idea if they have them at the McD's on campus or not; i no longer own a car and neither choice of walking in the dark to 18th or trying to transport a shake on my bicycle seem appealing. but mmm, the minty goodness of the legendary Shamrock Shake!


i haven't eaten McDonalds in 2009, something i am kind of proud of, but i'd be willing to make an exception for that fine chunk of high fructose corn syrup, lactose, and artificial mint flavoring. i can already feel the stomachache (i'm lactose intolerant) but i don't even care if it means shamrocky-goodness.

to further distract myself, here is my top 20 iTunes song list:

1. The Features - Me & The Skirts - 33
2. Spoon - I Turn My Camera On - 29
3. The Features - Whatever Gets You By - 28
4. The Features - The Drawing Board - 25
5. Van Morrison - Wild Night - 25
6. The Features - Blow It Out - 24
7. Girl Talk - Still Here - 20
8. The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow - 20
9. MGMT - Electric Feel - 20
10. The Police - So Lonely - 20
11. Stars - Take Me To The Riot - 20
12. The Bravery - Time Won't Let Me Go - 19
13. My Morning Jacket - One Big Holiday - 19
14. The Features - There's A Million Ways To Sing The Blues - 18
15. Girl Talk - Shut The Club Down - 18
16. Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around.../... Comes Around - 18
17. Of Montreal - Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider - 18
18. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul To Squeeze - 18
19. The Whigs - Like A Vibration - 18
20. Girl Talk - Set It Off - 17

i listen to the Features/Girl Talk a LOT!

crast goes GOBA.

so i don't know how many people know this, but i love riding my bicycle! my current ride is a '78 Schwinn Le Tour III that i bought from some dude over the summer. previously i had a very old, rusted out Schwinn Varsity that weighed about a million pounds and that someone (cough) wrecked while i was gone. i also have a cruiser with big fat whitewall tires, but i keep that at my mom's house. anyway, here's what my bike looks like:

it's the blue one. and i am excited to say that i will be riding my bike from June 20-28 on a trip through Ohio on GOBA, or Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure. this is the route map:


i plan on going with my roommate Logan and my former roommate Kendyl. it's going to be so much fun and i'm excited!

caterwaul.

we are designing toys for 252. i'm currently debating a bumble bee / lady bug transformers kind of toy. or an anteater with a magnetic ant-eating tongue. i don't know.

i had a fun conversation with Chris Clemmer of Sprig Toys on Monday. Sprig is an eco-toy company based in Fort Collins, Colorado. their toys are made of a mixture of reclaimed wood particles and recycled plastic, called Sprigwood. they don't have any batteries, and they are really, really cute. check it out:


they even light up and make sounds!

i am really excited to make some cool toys, and i might even bring my young sister in for testing day. she likes toys, i like toys, sounds good to me!



i have started working on my final course document. i was thinking about incorporating this chandelier/lamp theme, but Lo said it is very Urban Outfitters. it's very possible. if anyone has any thoughts about this, please let me know in the comments.



also, i had a cupcake from Gingham Bakery yesterday... it was SO GOOD. go check them out on Thurman Avenue in German Village! they have so many kinds of cupcakes and their store is very, very cute. like pink walls cute. and i know we all love supporting local businesses :)

she's crasty!

phew! is it bad that i actually looked FORWARD to studying for an exam yesterday? it just seems so, i don't know, easy... after all of the projects i've been doing.

i drew this little self-portrait a while back and only recently remembered to scan (well, photograph on PhotoBooth) it and pop it out in Illustrator. if you don't know what i look like, i can assure you that it's fairly accurate. me:


au revoir, and good luck to anyone out there taking exams.

well someone told me yesterday...

you know you've been awake too long when you start second-guessing your spelling on really, really simple words. i'm working on a logo for something --i can't say what just yet-- and i had typed "series" on Illustrator to get a feel for the typeface portion of the logo. "is that really how you spell 'series'?" i wondered to myself. "wow, that looks weird. series. s-e-r-i-e-s. what a strange word."

yes, that IS how you spell it, and no, i'm not that happy to be awake at 3:30am. unfortunately, a bizarre cross of design 252 and design 254 projects, a design 254 exam, and double projects for my internship happened to make a rare blue-moon appearance tonight. some things to look forward to in near future (like tomorrow, if i can stay awake) time: photos of my tessellation project, photos of my bizarre irregular surface project, logo sketches, photo boards, and research panels from our group presentation!

what a boring post, i know. to insure that i don't kill you with words, here's a picture of my mind really being lost in some safety goggles my dad found:


oh happy day.

helvetica, objectified, and my hopes for the next great IS documentary.

limited edition Helvetica Moleskine.

we all love Helvetica, whether we know it or not, and Gary Hustwit helped us to see that in his fabulous 2007 film. word on the street, however, tells me that his new project could be even cooler: a documentary about products and the every day consumer! i read about Objectified last week in Readymade and i had to find out more. i am intrigued.

here's what the website has to say about the film:

Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about industrial designers, the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. -objectifiedfilm.com

as excited as i am to see this, the more excited to see what Gary Hustwit will come out with next. he's covered Visual Communication with a documentary on a typeface, and he's got Industrial Design now with Objectified. will his next film be about Interior Spaces? can he resist touching all three corners of the design trifecta and NOT make a film about badass Interior Space Design? only time will tell, i suppose, but in the mean time i am going to implore Gary to crack open a copy of Wallpaper* and start filming... and find the next local screening of Objectified, of course.

tweet?

photo by Louise Ma, Time Mag

my thought of the day is this: what is up with Twitter? i'm afraid i just don't understand it, what it does, or why one would be interested in it.

i admit, i was Barack Obama's Twitter friend for about a week over the summer. the result? messages every time he made a speech, visited a college campus, or set foot on a bus. i respect the man, but knowing his every move just doesn't rev my engine. also, my phone kept beeping at work, blowing my cover and earning the ire of my bosses.

so Twitters, tell me this: why tweet? i promise i will take your responses seriously and with real considerations. i'm not opposed to this phenomenon, but merely inquisitive.

whole lot of walking to do.

this is the end of our first project in 252. it has literally and figuratively beat me up and run me through the ringer. i won't give a point-by-point recount of the injuries, lack of sleep, and general craziness inflicted by this project. have you ever tried to solder something while brushing your teeth? have you ever had to choose between eating and finishing a project? have you ever been to Kinkos at 2:30 in the morning? i have now done all these things.

behold my result: 4 pages of process boards plus two images of the final products. we also had to do an Illustrator rendering and one in pencil. you can click on any of the pages or pictures to see them bigger. i can't believe it's all done!

boom boom.

so yesterday was a SNOW DAY at OSU! how BA is that? i had a great time sleeping in (until 10:30, woo hoo) and working on my mask all freakin' day. i also went to see Benjamin Button with my boyfriend. it was pretty good, not fabulous, but i did get to drink a beer at the movie theater. weird but pleasing experience.

i've been totally terrible about updating my little blog, but i promise to be better. our current school project is wire/bristol/digital masks. my current personal project is organizing my portfolio. i had an interview for an internship at Bliss Events a few days ago and got to present my portfolio there. it was great practice and i absolutely love everything they do over there.

without further ado, here is Salvaje del Azúcar del Santo. he is part Gabon African tribal mask, part Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling mask, and 100% awesome:




adios!

so here we are...

did i ever mention that i thought Stewart Copeland from the Police is super foxy? it's true...




other than that, it's a blizzard outside and i pretty much want to curl up into a little ball and hibernate until it's over. alas, though, i have masks to make out of wire for design class. pictures to follow!!

PS if you live in columbus don't forget to come see this guy at the Newport on saturday or sunday!!